Doctor Fate

Doctor Fate was most commonly known as Kent Nelson because he was the longest person to keep the name. Eric Strauss and Linda Strauss fused together to form Dr. Fate in another series.

Kent Nelson was an archaeologist he discovered the tomb of an Egyptian wizard.

Doctor fate's look was changed in 1941 they cut his mask in half still covering his eyes and forehead but exposing his mouth. He was later revived in the Justice League of America.

Doctor Fate's magic is his specialty. He shows a lot of his magic in the Justice League when he fights Hawkgirl in the episode "The Terror Beyond". Later on he joins the Justice League Unlimited.

Kent Nelson

Kent Nelson

Kent Nelson travels with his father on an expedition to the Valley of Ur in the year 1920. When his father opens the tomb of the great wizard Nabu, a poison gas was released which ultimately resulted in the death of Sven Nelson. Nabu takes pity on the orphaned Kent so he decides to raise him, teaching him the skills of a wizard and the ways of magic, then bestows upon him a mystical helm and amulet.

By the 1940's, Nelson returns to the United States and takes root in an invisible tower in Salem, Massachusetts. From this sanctum he embarks out, fighting crime and supernatural evil as the hero, Doctor Fate. During the early part of this career he meets, courts, and then marries a red-head named Inza.

In late 1940's, Doctor Fate becomes one of the founding members of the Justice Society of America (JSA). Dr. Fate remains active within the group up until the middle of the decade when he withdrew in the year 1945. By the end of the decade he had withdrawn completely from public activities. When the JSA comes out of retirement to work with the Justice League he returns as well, joining his old teammates.

When the JSA re-establishes itself in the modern age of heroes, Doctor Fate is among the members who return. Though he has become increasingly erratic and withdraw from society, he still commits himself protecting the Earth against supernatural threats. It is during this time that Nelson also goes through a period where, in order to transform into Doctor Fate, he must fuse with his wife, Inza Nelson.

After helping to put a stop Darkseid's plans to discredit the heroes of Earth in the eyes of humanity, Kent, as the sole bearer of the Helm, joins the newly reconstituted Justice League. He serves for a time, but inevitably the magic he was using to maintain he and Inza's youth falter. The pair then die, rapidly aging in a short period of time.

Eric and Linda Strauss

With the death of Kent Nelson, Nabu begins his search for a new host. This search brings him to Eric and Linda Strauss. They are bound so that they must merge in order to become Doctor Fate, but besides that they lead separate lives. Nabu then animates Kent Nelson's corpse to serve as an adviser and instructor. Due to the fact that the tower Nelson used as a sanctum is destroyed, the pair runs their operations out of Linda's apartment. Later they are joined by a small demon they name Petey and a lawyer by the name Jack C. Small. This pair provides moral support and even manage to assist in some of the battles.

During a battle on Apokolips, Eric is killed, leaving Linda to serve as Dr. Fate on her own. The Helm eventually rejects her. Eric's soul, instead of passing on, is placed in the dying body of Eugene DiBellia, who had been mortally wounded in a car accident. Eugene is the father of a girl named Raina, who will usher in a new age for all mankind.

Though she is no longer Doctor Fate, the Anti-Fate, returns to plague her. This forces Linda to merge with Nabu and become Doctor Fate once again. Though they are forced to retreat, the Lords of Chaos succeed in assaulting Linda Strauss and killing her. Same as Eric, her soul is placed into the dying body of Wendy DiBellia, so that she and Eric can take care of Raina. The DiBellias had always been fated to die, but thanks to the intervention of the Phantom Stranger and someone serving as a human avatar of God, Raina is not left without her caretakers.

Inza Nelson

Inza and Kent Nelson's souls, which had been previously inhabiting Doctor Fate's amulet, were resurrected in new young bodies. However, they discovered that now only Inza was able to transform into Doctor Fate. She spent her time striving to improve the lot of humanity, but Kent chided her about her "reckless" use of magic.

Ina strove to use her new powers proactively, unlike wielding his powers. Her inexperience initially worked against her, but she steadily grew more competent with experience. She was instrumental in defeating Circe, who had spear-headed a war among the gods of antiquity.

Her growing confidence led to increasing recklessness. The people under her protection became dependent on her to solve every little problem. Rather than retreating from dependency, she made matters even worse as she created spheres that would respond to people's wishes.

This abuse of her power eventually separated Kent and Inza as they steadily found themselves opposing each other's actions. The Nelsons learned that a Lord of Chaos had taken residence in the Helm of Nabu and had been providing Inza with magic derived from Chaos instead of Order. This Lord of Chaos was also the reason that the couple could no longer merge and become Doctor Fate. Kent eventually returned to his wife's side and helped her defeat this Lord of Chaos. Inza then learns that her new powers draw from the people of Earth, rather than Chaos or Order.

Inza continued her proactive behavior, causing the United States government to take notice of her and put her on trial before Congress. After giving a stern lecture to the Congressmen, she temporarily transformed them all into newts.

After defeating the Lord of Chaos, the Nelsons began merging as the male Doctor Fate again. The Nelsons did retain the ability to become independent Doctor Fates if the situation ever called for it. In these cases Kent's form would resemble that of his days of wearing the half-helm.

In their final actions as Doctor Fate, the Nelsons, along with the JSA, faced the supervillain Extant during an attempt by Parallax to change the history of the universe. Extant, with seeming ease, caused most of the JSA members to rapidly approach their proper physical ages. He also separated the Nelsons from the raiments of Doctor Fate, the Helm, Amulet, and cloak. The greatly aged and depowered Nelsons were returned to Salem and to a forced retirement.

Jared Stevens (Fate)

After the Nelsons return to Earth, Jared Stevens discovers the raiments of Doctor Fate. He altered them into a knife, set of throwing darts, and an arm binding and begins a career as a balance between Order and Chaos as simply "Fate". His only encounter with the Nelsons results in their deaths and the souls of the couple return to the Amulet.

His end came at the hands of Mordru as part of the dark wizard's plot to inherit the mantel and artifacts of Doctor Fate.

Hector Hall

Hector Hall

Nabu, aware of Mordru's diabolic ambitions, had planned in advance to insure that his Helm and the mantle of Doctor Fate would pass on to a reincarnated Hector Hall. This plan coincided with the rebirth of the Justice Society which acted in order to protect the newly reborn Hector.

The nature of the body into which Hector was born defines a change in the purpose of Doctor Fate. The child is the son of Hank Hall and Dawn Granger, agents of both Chaos and Order once known as Hawk and Dove. This makes the child an agent of balance between Order and Chaos, rather than of an agent of one side or the other.

Later on the Spectre, in an attempt to expunge evil by extinguishing magic, confronts Hector Hall. This resulted in he and his wife, Lyta, being banished to "Hell," a snowy mountain landscape, where Hector would be forced to spend eternity. After protecting his unconscious wife from a pack of demons, Hector collapsed, just as Lyta awoke. She revealed that she had communicated with her son Daniel Hall, now the Lord of Dreams, and had made a deal. The two joined their son in the Dreaming, seemingly giving up the mortal world forever.

The good doctor

Powers

Doctor Fate possesses a variety of different mystical powers. Generally, even without wearing the Helmet of Nabu, the host can fly, has resistance to harm, has minor telekinesis, and has greater-than-human strength. At his most powerful, Doctor Fate is an accomplished sorcerer, able to rival most other wizards in the DC Universe. Doctor Fate has been seen firing bolts of mystical energy, teleporting across the universe, creating solid objects out of energy, and transforming objects into other kinds of matter. The full limits of his magical skills are not known, and have varied greatly from one appearance to the next depending on the needs of the story. At perhaps the peak of his abilities, he was able to assume control of Jason Blood, Highfather, Darkseid and Orion and harness their powers to take on the Anti-Life entity. In this instance, he was strong enough to annihilate a reality in order to halt the advancing of the entity using a "Mystic Firebreak". Even as powerful as Doctor Fate is, he has been shown to be on the losing side of the long battles with the Spectre, as shown in the Day of Vengeance series.

The Helm

Helm of Nabu

The helmet that Doctor Fate wears focuses the Doctor Fate identity. It was originally used to house Nabu's spirit and allowed him possession of the host, later only allowed him to advise the host instead. The helmet is what provides the link to Nabu and by not wearing it, as Kent Nelson did at one time, Doctor Fate loses much of its power and knowledge.

Putting on the helmet usually results in its wearer being clad in the other raiments of Doctor Fate, unless the person with the claim to the helmet wishes to prevent it. Villains seeking the power of Doctor Fate have plundered the helmet, in which case the result is typically that the wearer goes insane when they try to put on the helmet.

Amulet of Anubis

The circular device on the collar worn around Doctor Fate's chest and shoulders is the Amulet of Anubis, which gives it's bearer vast magical abilities. The amulet houses the souls of many who have worn the vestments of Fate. In JSA, the amulet contained the image of a farmhouse with the souls of Kent and Inza Nelson, Eric and Linda Strauss, Jared Stevens and Kid Eternity inhabiting it. This dimension has been used as a refuge for the Justice Society Of America to regroup in battle or access the advice of the previous Doctor Fates. Mordru was imprisoned in the amulet for some time.

Alternate Version

Doctor Chaos (Earth-One)

Professor Lewis Lang and his assistant Burt Belker uncover a helmet identical to the one used by Nabu in the Valley of Ur which contains a Lord of Chaos. The Lord of Chaos possesses Burt in order become Doctor Chaos, whose agenda differs from the one of Earth-Two's Doctor Fate. Doctor Chaos' costume mirrors Doctor Fate's, but with an inverted color scheme. Superboy confronts him and is able to remove the helmet from Belker and send it into space.

Fate (Kingdom Come)

This version of Nabu is similar to his later appearance just before his death, able to channel his consciousness through the Helm and Cloak without the need of a host body. This version of Fate sided with Batman's group during Kingdom Come, and was amongst the survivors at the end of the story.

Future (Books of Magic)

This Doctor Fate is a corrupt version of the Helmet which appears like a human skull. It would ultimately kill any of its worshipers that wore it. This one no longer cares about the battle between Order and Chaos and believes that there is no meaning in life; only flesh and death. H wanted to kill Doctor Fate and destroy the helm long ago, but the Justice League prevented him.

52

This version makes a brief appearance in 52 along with the rest of the JSA. This team hails from Earth-2.

Doctor Strangefate

Doctor Strangefate is an amalgram character. He is a combination of Doctor Fate, Doctor Strange, and Professor Xavier. His powers are based upon both Doctors, but Charles Xavier is the man under the helm. Doctor Strangefate is the protector of the Amalgam universe, building up the universe around him from the battle between DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and will literally kill to prevent his universe from collapsing.